Meta

Catogories

Earlier today, I came up with the idea of sharing with you my top 5 books for summer. Some of these books I may have already displayed on my blog as a book review, in which case you can find out more about it, but with every one, even ones with special posts, I will explain why I have chosen it and what it is about. These should be able to inspire you to 1. Read more over the summer, and 2. Check out some new books. I love each of these, and if you decide to give them a try, I hope you do too.

I Capture the Castle- By Dodie Smith: I love this book for many reasons, it has relatable characters, an interesting, engaging plot, and an old and modern feeling at the same time. It was written in 1948, and therefore is in language we wouldn’t necessarily use now, but it is reasonably easy to understand. I think I found it after watching the film, which is surprisingly almost as good, and so a great place to start if you aren’t up for reading the book. I find it summery because it sort of visits all the seasons, and has a fresh cleanish feel about it.

Feeling Sorry for Celia- By Jaclyn Moriarty: This book consists of letters from different people, and is about writing to PenPals from different schools. I’m not really sure why I chose this as a summery book, it is certainly enlighten, happy, and mostly an enjoyable summer read. I love its format, swapping between characters to get to know others better. It has characters with a lot to say, many personalities and good intentions.

The Year Of The Rat- Clare Furniss: This wasn’t my immediate thought when I wanted to come up with books, but I read it recently and thought it deserved a place on here. It’s topic isn’t all flowery and summery like others and has some depressing topics to deal with, but also shows hope and calmness when needed. It takes place in all the months of the year, and has a story you are likely not to forget. Its really moving, and you feel as if you are growing with the main character, Rose.

Ingo- Helen Dunmore: I read this quite a while ago, but I now see why it is summery. It takes place by the sea, which gives it a summery, holiday feel, and also is based on mer-people, which also people relate with summer and the sea. I love it because I never seem to read books like it any more, the type of fantasy, unreal books. But this was different, I guess like most fantasy authors, Helen Dunmore had tried to make the mer aspect seem as real as possible, and she succeeded. It was well written, had interesting topics, if a bit sad. It is written for children younger than me, maybe 11+, but it can still be enjoyable for all ages.

Infinite Sky- C. J. Flood: This book came in set of coming-of-age books I got for christmas about 2 years ago, and I can certainly give it a well earned 4/5. It can sometimes seem like a harsh, worrying book, as the topic is not a fun, jokey one, but it holds together and all ends well. The characters have their ups and downs, with different emotions, thoughts and worries between them. It also seems summery because of the changes in atmosphere because I don’t know about you, but I have mixed feelings for summer, sometimes its great and sunny, everyone enjoying themselves, but then its sticky and humid, staying inside. The plot of the characters is a bit like that.

I tried to pick out authors and books that you may not have heard of, as I like encouraging others to read books that aren’t necessarily popular. If I say put a book like the Hunger Games on my list, it would be useless as pretty much everyone has read it already, and that is not the point of introducing others to books! Soon, I hope to blog about books I want to read over the summer, so comment if you have any suggestions, bye for now,

I had nothing to do today, and I was also looking for something crafty to post on my blog. I wanted some ideas so I looked up on the internet something like, ‘interesting crafts for teenagers’ It came up with a lot of interesting ideas, and one that caught my eye was a sort of scrapbook, with pictures, memories and clippings in, reminding me of one similar I had done when I was younger. In the end I didn’t do anything much like it, or copy this idea from anything else, but this Idea jar is based on a scrapbook, although in a completely different way.

The Idea of this, is that when I am bored, I can pick out a card form my jar and that is what I can do. I collected 55 ideas of things that I often do, or even things that I haven’t in a while and should, e.g. rollerblading, cooking, reading magazines, going a walk, etc. It was a quite easy thing to do, all you need is..:

Patterned or coloured card

A smallish jar

Colourful pens or fine-liners

Ideas!

First I cut up small square/rectangle shapes on the patterned card

Beforehand I had written a long list of things to do, I would make them things that you are likely to want to do, rather than things you would just swap out for something else.

I then used the pens to write out all of the activities on the card, and afterwards slotting them each into the jar, making sure they all fit.

Thats it! The idea is easy and quick to make, but you feel satisfied afterwards, and you can keep using this for ages, it will certainly help you figure out what to do…

I enjoyed making this and I hope you do too, I hope to post soon, and hopefully as it is the summer holidays I will have more time to do, a. more interesting things, which b. means I can blog about them! So you’ll be hearing from me soon,

I guess I should change the category title from film reviews to film/tv series reviews, as the series I’m reviewing today is a series, not a film! I found this about a week ago whilst scanning Netflix for a film or programme to watch that evening. I quite like period dramas set in the early 1900’s, for example my favourite is Downton Abbey, (I’ve watched every series and episode!) and this seemed to be one of the best bets I had on Netflix for something I liked. I have so far only watched the first series, because that was all that was available on Netflix but I can assure you that I will be buying and watching the next two soon! Here is my review, I hope you like it.

The story evolves around Nancy, Joyce, Annie and Bea as they join the Women’s Land Army, based at the Hoxley Estate in World War 2. They all face worse struggles than any of them could have imagined, and end up in all sorts of dangerous positions and scrapes. Even though none of them wanted to go in the first place, at the end, no one would love even if the chance arose.

I love this because it is such an emotional series, which made me both laugh and cry. The series made it look so real, as if it were actually happening, and finally I grew to realise how bad women had the war, and what happened to them. Although I loved the series for what it was, I know that there were some inaccurate facts about the war, and certain illnesses. I also don’t like the fact that there was a fairly strong american stereotype that everyone seemed to follow, and it was neither accurate nor a great example.

The plot was easy enough to tell, but in this instance it wasn’t too bad, and so it was a nice factor. The genre for this series would be period drama, with romance and war as two smaller genres inside. Another thing I love, is that the drama/action is spread out and carries on throughout the whole of the time, rather than being bunched up and happening quickly at one end or the other.

I would recommend this to people who like this style, but not necessarily to historic experts because you’re just going to end up breaking your tv with the incorrect facts. Posting soon,

To me, this was a book that I will forever remember, and most likely read again soon, for I loved it beyond any book I have read in the last few weeks. It took me longer to read than most other books, because despite being not a long book, the plot and words were confusing- mainly a consequence of it being set in the 1930’s and written in the 1960’s. I never thought I would end up liking this, as it was a book my English Teacher persuaded me to give a try, rather than me choosing it on someone else recommendation. I always knew that it would be difficult for me to read, or just more so than other, more modern books I seem to be reading most of the time, but surprisingly, I got to understand and get the hang of Harper Lee’s writing style and sentences. I will hopefully soon be enjoying the next book, “Go Set a Watchman”, which was published last year just before Harper Lee’s death. I hope you enjoy the rest of my review, starting with a short explanation of what happens during the start of the plot.

The story follows Scout and her older brother Jem, living with their lawyer father, Atticus in their home town of Alabama, 1932. The first part of the the novel shares the story of one summer. Jem and Scout play, and discover new mysteries and friends. They come to know the shadowy character of Boo Radley, who lives in a neighboring house and yet is never seen. There are a number of strange rumours surrounding this man, but their fair-minded father warns them that they should try to see the world from the other people’s perspectives.

The story is a one for both adults and younger people alike because as it is a childhood tale, it has many adult points of views and topics contained inside. It shows readers how the world could be like if we wanted to change it, and helps us realise what is wrong with the world and society we live in. It gives views from different people, from different races and culture to bring together to humorous and passionate book it is. The only thing that I would change, if I had written this book myself is that it is quite racist, and uses topics that I wouldn’t use, (I won’t say: Spoiler!)

Overall I would give it 4.5 out of 5, and I think it has deserved it. It is a sort of coming of age novel, with a sense of childish and grown-up writing.

This morning was a free time for me, and I had to figure out what to do with my time…I was relieved when I found this recipe, as one of many I will enjoy again. I wasn’t sure about it at first, as it is peanut buttery, which is not my favourite flavour at the best of times, but with some improvements on the recipe it should be a great snack. The recipe for us wasn’t quite right, we found it too peanuty, and not sweet enough, and with a little too few oats. I have adjusted this recipe so it is just the way I like it, and I hope you do too. The original recipe is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book “Light & Easy”, and although this recipe wasn’t the best working thing for me, I can highly recommend this book for others. This recipe should make about ten cookies. Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients:

150g peanut butter

75g runny honey

1 large egg

1 quarter of a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

75g raisins

75g porridge oats

20g brown sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees or gas mark 3

Line a baking tray with baking parchment/greaseproof paper

Put the peanut butter into a mixing bowl, then add the honey and beat it in

Afterwards, add in the egg and stir/beat that in thoroughly

Sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over the surface and beat it in, then stir in the raisins and oats

Hi, throughout the past few months, children in a few surrounding villages, aged 7-14 put together a production of the play/film Annie. We followed the rough script and songs to the old film, and together all enjoyed the outcome as we performed it twice last weekend. It was a great experience, and a second for most of us as last year we put on a production of Oliver! For Annie, I was the Dog Catcher, and Drake: The Butler. We spent most Saturdays and Wednesdays for about 7 weeks rehearsing for the big days which was not long, considering we all had to learn lines, get props, prepare costumes, rehearse scenes over and over again until it was all perfect.

I don’t really have much else to say, except for the fact that me and my friends enjoyed it thoroughly and would do it again if we had another opportunity. For a lot of people, it was their first time on the stage, but if you are considering doing anything to do with acting, singing or even behind the scenes prop making or designing when you are older, a small play or pantomime near you could be the perfect place to start, and even if it isn’t that serious or great quality it should be fun. We were lucky to have had an amazing director, that put a great deal of work into the play helping us both on stage and off, and it was made even better by the fact that she does acting and a singer. We also had people helping to get the level standard higher, people doing jobs like: The lighting, sets, sounds, music (Piano and Harmonica covered most songs) and prompter. This made the play so great and i wish I could thank everyone more.

Hoped you liked this and that it will inspire you to do something creative like this, i’ll be posting again soon, a recipe I think as I haven’t done any cooking posts in a while, Bye,

Usually I don’t worry or do nearly as much revision as I should but for my end of year exams this year I though I would make a little more effort than I usually do. Some of these ideas can be creative, fun, or just down-right boring but they all help me and I hope they help you too. Here are some of my favourite and most effective ideas and instructions:

Flash Cards: I usually make these as I find they improve my memory and also doing things in different orders. You just need some A4 card, which I usually cut into 16 small rectangles, and colourful pens to make them stand out and not be as boring…Write a question on one side, then the answer on the other being as detailed or vague as you think necessary. I get my friends and family to test me on these facts until I know most of them off by heart ready for the exam. The subjects I have made them for already I have gone a bit overboard with, for my geography i’ve done 76 and my history 64…!

Mind Maps: I find these most effective stuck on my door or wall or in a place that I go past and look at every day. This means that facts usually stick in my head as I go past, and I can think, e.g. “okay, what are the 5 air masses that effect the uk?” You can make them by finding an A4 or A3 piece of paper and writing a subject in the middle. You can then go on to drawing lines of it for different topics, facts, or info that you want to revise and know. You can make it as colourful as you want and include diagrams, pictures, or highlights for extra.

Folder: I sometimes go through each of the books I want to revise for and photocopy all of the pages that include the info I need to revise for different topics. I find it helps if you keep all this in a folder in separate plastic files for each topic inside a subject. This is neat and organised, and is helpful if you need to carry it round on trains or uses, or if you want to pack revision for holidays…

Those are some of my instructions, but I also have some tips to make it easier and healthier:

Take breaks from revision: It won’t be as good for you if you spend 5 hours of straight revising, as it will be if you do 2 hours with a few 10 minute breaks. This can help your brain have time to recharge and also relax

Don’t spend loads of time revising the night before: If you start revising earlier, and you do small periods of revising every day or every few days your results will be much better